


Don't You Forget About Me

by District_7_Profanity



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: AU, F/F, F/M, Film AU, High School AU, Joniss - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3644460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/District_7_Profanity/pseuds/District_7_Profanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five teenagers - Finnick Odair, Beetee Latier, Annie Cresta, Katniss Everdeen, and Johanna Mason - who have nothing in common are forced to spend an entire Saturday detention together. My Joniss Breakfast Club/High School AU! The film, with some things added and removed. Enjoy!</p><p>Happy 30th Anniversary, Breakfast Club.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Saturday, May 8th._

_Dear Mrs. Coin,_

_We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy for making us write this essay telling you who we think we are._

_What do you care?_

_You see us as you want to see us; in the most simplest terms, the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Correct? That's they way we saw each other at 7 o'clock this morning._

_We were brainwashed._

* * *

Saturday detention is a joke. I already spend too much time in this indoctrinating prison, and I don't want to waste my Saturday in the library. The sun is just creeping up over the edge of the school as I near it - Panem High School, home of the Mockingjays. The only school I know of whose mascot is a big dumb bird. Not even a predatory bird like an eagle or a vulture. Nope, it's a mockingjay. A bird that is a step above a hummingbird in terms of beauty and a step down in terms of usefulness.

My boots clop against the gravel of the street, and over my headphones I can hear the squeal of tires as someone just avoids hitting me. Without looking, I flip the car off and continue over the lawn. Grass squishes beneath my feet as I get closer to my cell for the next nine hours. I tug my flannel a little tighter around my torso, regretting not having worn my leather jacket over it. The breeze moves in and out of the gaping holes in my jeans and only relents as I get into the building. I flick my cigarette back behind me and the large, imposing doors slam shut.

Once I get to the library, just shy of 7am, it's no surprise to me that Volts is already here because he's an insufferable nerd. He probably slept here last night. His name is actually Beetee Latier but I've called him Volts since he accidentally shocked himself with an outlet at his house freshman year and came to school with his curly black hair standing straight on end. Since then he's kept his hair cut short to his head, but the nickname stuck. He's got thick Coke bottle glasses that make his eyes as wide as the ones in the anime he reads, that I enjoy to steal and report to the administration anonymously as porn.

I don't think he knows it's me that does it. But frankly, I don't care.

The jock's already here, too. Mr. Future Prom King, Finnick Odair. He's ridiculously handsome with his chiseled jaw, perfectly coiffed golden hair and muscled physique. He gets his ass slapped by a lot of different types of jocks, but he excels at swimming. Rumor has it he got a full ride scholarship to the University of Florida - the greatest men's swim team in the country. Goody for him. Chain yourself to another educational institution. Sheep.

On the other side of the room, in the desk behind Volts, I see Annie Cresta, a red-haired girl with wide, sea-green eyes and a nervous disposition. I don't know what she did to get detention, but it was probably something crazy. She's a little off. The kind of "off" where even I don't fuck with her. Maybe it's sympathy. Maybe it's self-preservation because in this country, kids who get bullied take guns to school. That's not how I'm going down, that's for sure. Her big "secret" is a while back that she killed a guy and that's why she transferred to our school a few years ago. But I don't put too much stock in secrets. People who start that shit are just motormouths who are so bored with their lives that they invent things to talk about so they don't have to pause and reflect on how pointless their existence is. I should know, there are a bunch of rumors about me. Some true, some not. I prefer to neither confirm nor deny, and instead let everyone go fuck themselves.

To my great surprise, Katniss Everdeen is sitting in the front row of the desks, a chair away from Odair. For whatever reason, Katniss is incredibly well-liked among the student population, though she maintains an aura of indifference toward her popularity. Her clique includes the gossipy queens of the school, though I'm not sure I've ever seen Everdeen smile, especially in their presence. She certainly doesn't get into trouble, though. It stops me in my tracks right next to her desk. She's trying to stare straight ahead and not look up at me, so I slam my palm on her desk and she startles. "Katniss Everdeen. What did you do to get detention, hm? Blow your trig teacher so he'll pass you?"

Her eyes flame with anger and she looks up, squinting at me in annoyance. "Fuck off, Johanna."

"If you're having trouble in trigonometry, I could tutor you," Beetee offers, giving Katniss a small smile that she half-heartedly returns. Queens like Katniss have no time for nerds like Beetee Latier, even if she pretends she isn't one of them.

I stare him down until he reverts his attention back to his desk and I return my eyes to Katniss. "Saucy," I smirk, waggling my eyebrows at her. "Better watch that pretty mouth. It might get you into trouble. Again." I saunter to the last desk in the last row, planting myself in the plastic chair they've provided for us and putting my backpack on the ground. On cue, Assistant Principal Alma Coin walks into the room. She's an attractive older woman with pin-straight gray hair and green-tinted hazel eyes that scrutinize everything with every scan around the room. We've spent a lot of time together over the last four years of my time here. Not sure why, but I seem to attract trouble. Go figure.

"Well, here we are." She clasps her hands in front of her sensible lady power-suit. "Congratulations on being on time -"

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Katniss interrupts, raising her hand. Coin narrows her eyes at her. "I don't think I belong here. I think there was a mistake."

Coin doesn't even bother responding, instead turning her attention to us as she walks down the aisle between the two rows of desks. "You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways." Katniss turns to watch Coin as she makes her slow walk and I catch her eye. I make a gesture with my fist to my mouth, protruding my cheek with my tongue, sucking some imaginary dick. Katniss sneers at me and lifts her eyes back to Coin. "You may not talk. You will not move from the seats you've chosen. And you -" She jerks the chair I've put underneath my feet and my boots fall to the floor. "Will not sleep."

Coin turns to the rest of the group and claps her hands together once. "Wonderful. Your assignment here is to write a one-thousand word essay on the paper provided about who you think you are. Describe yourself to me. Be creative." She looks down at Annie Cresta's desk, where the timid girl has already drawn a rather large octopus woman on her paper. "Not that creative." She sighs and when she reaches the front of the library, she points out the door. "My office is right across the hall. If there is any monkey business going on, I will hear you."

"Is this going to be graded?" Beetee asks, nervously pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

Coin shakes her head, her curtain of hair waving. "No, Mr. Latier. But it will determine whether or not you'll be back here for a repeat performance next Saturday." She scans the room again and her eyes fall to me. "And when I say essay, I mean real words. Not the same word one thousand times. Is that clear, Mason?"

I wink at her. "Crystal."

"Are there any questions?"

No one says a word. Odair has been staring down as his desk angrily this whole time. Must be that pent up steroid aggression. Cresta's lost in her world again and Katniss is staring straight ahead. I raise my hand. "I got a question."

"Yes, Miss Mason?"

"When you walk, do you have to shove the stick back up your ass?" I lean on the desk and try to gesture with my hands. "I mean, does it wiggle out when you walk and you gotta push it back in?"

Coin, to her credit, doesn't even flinch at my words. I get a small giggle out of Finnick, though. "I'll answer that question next Saturday, Miss Mason." I sink back into my seat. Well, fuck. She picks up on my despondent expression and smirks at me. "Mess with the kitty, Miss Mason, and you get the claws."

Once she's left the room everyone sort of lets out a breath of relief. I prop my feet back up on the empty chair and pick up the pencil they provided us to write our precious essay. I have no intention of writing this dumb essay, so I begin chewing the little metal band around the eraser. Next to me I hear a loud snap and everyone turns to look at me.

"Not me," I say, putting my hands up. "It was Red." Annie removes her hand from her mouth and places her fingers in her lap. "Keep eating your hand and you won't be hungry for lunch." She glares at me and spits the nail she was chewing on the ground at my feet. I stand up abruptly and she flinches, but a grin spreads across my face. "You know, I've seen you before." She looks familiar, other than my seeing her around school. She's got flame red hair that's all bedraggled around her face, to the point where you can barely see her eyes. For some reason, though, I'm sure I've seen her outside of school.

Katniss turns back around and twirls her pencil around her fingers. I tug my lower lip between my teeth and crumple my essay paper. With as much precision as possible, I launch the paper ball at her. Unfortunately it sails over her head, but it does grab her attention. She glares at me over her shoulder, then scowls and returns to staring ahead quietly.

"What if we have to pee?" I ask suddenly, and everyone but Katniss turns around. "We'll have to establish a bathroom for ourselves." I get up from my seat and make my way toward Katniss's desk. "I nominate the desk of the prom king and queen. Any objections?"

"Sit down, Johanna," Finnick advises me tiredly. I glare at him. In another lifetime, we were friends. Before he became a jock and I became ...whatever I am. But that was long ago and he doesn't have the right to boss me around.

"Or what, Flipper? You'll splash me to death?" I taunt, rolling my eyes at him.

"He's right, just sit down. You'll get us in more trouble," Katniss pipes up.

My lips turn upward and I look down at her. "Oh,  _you've_  got something to say? You're gonna make me sit down, hm?" I cock my head to the side. "Not afraid I'll kill you today?"

"Like I couldn't take you," she answers immediately. Her answer surprises us both and I raise my eyebrows.

"Is that right?" I drawl, sitting on the edge of her desk. I lean down on my palm and lean toward her. "You wanna take me, prom queen?" In spite of her bravado a light blush comes across the tops of her cheeks. It makes me notice the faint smattering of freckles that dot her olive skin.

"You wish," she snarks back.

"O-ho-hoo, feisty. You know you're pretty sexy when you're angry, princess." I purr at her and she rolls her eyes. I look behind her at Beetee. "Hey, homeboy?" Beetee raises his eyes over his glasses to look at me. "What do you say we close that door? Then we can really see if Katniss can take me."

"Hey," Finnick calls. I choose to ignore him and stare down at Katniss, who's meeting my gaze forcefully. I wasn't just blowing hot air - she really is very attractive when she's mad. It's sort of frustrating. "Hey!"

"What?" I shout at him, ripping my eyes away from Katniss's to look at Finnick.

"Just leave her alone, all right?"

I roll my eyes at his pathetic attempt at chivalry. "What did you do to get in here, huh? Forget to wash your jock strap?"

"Guys," Beetee butts in from the other side of the room. "I think we should just put our heads down and do our paper."

Finnick cocks an eyebrow and turns in his seat to face Beetee. "Just because you live in here doesn't mean you're in charge, so shut up."

"She's just trying to get a rise out of you," Katniss advises to Finnick, who turns back in his seat and nods. His strong jaw is still set in anger but he relaxes somewhat inside his oversized varsity jacket. "Just ignore her."

"Sweetheart," I condescend, patting the space in front of Katniss. "You couldn't ignore me if you tried." I swing my legs off the desk and walk back to my chair, sitting down and leaning on my forearms. "So!" I call into the room, but no one turns around. Well, Annie is looking at me but I'm not trying to get her attention. "So, you guys like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" I pout, looking at the backs of their heads. "Goin' steady? Or maybe just plain fucking?" Neither of them turn, so I smirk and continue. "C'mon, Gilligan, level with me. Every so often do you take the princess on your boat and give it to her in the poop deck?"

"Enough!" Finnick yells, turning around to face me in a rage. "Knock it off!"

"Chill out. I'm not the one who put you in detention, remember? Remember who the real enemy is, Odair."

"Hey!" Coin calls from across the hall and everyone freezes in place. I don't hear the click-clack of high heels so I assume she's still gonna stew in her office for a while. Maybe work on dislodging the stick in her ass.

Katniss and Finnick glare at me, Beetee is trying to avoid my gaze, and I think Annie is actually giggling a little. I'm glad someone is enjoying this show other than me. If I've gotta be stuck in detention all Saturday, then I wanna have a little bit of fun. I get up and walk to Katniss, then hoist myself up on the banister next to her and Finnick. "What do you say we close that door, hm? We can't have any fun with her barking in here."

"The door is supposed to stay open," Beetee reminds me.

"Yeah, and how about you just shut up?" Finnick adds, looking up at me. "There are four other people in this room, you know."

I place my hand on my chest. "Oh my. The fish boy can count." I snap my fingers. "I knew you had to be smart to be a swimmer."

Finnick scoffs. "Like you're one to talk." He levels his sea-foam green eyes at me. "What have you done?" Katniss snorts in agreement and I cock my head and continue to bore my eyes into Finnick's. "You know, Johanna, you don't even matter. You could just disappear one day and nobody at this school would even notice."

I divert my eyes to Annie, who has stopped laughing and is watching me intently. My gaze finds Fininck's again and I contort my mouth into a grin. "I should join the swim team then, hm?" Katniss chuckles softly. "Student Council? Chess League?"

"Nah, none of them would take you," Finnick objects, shaking his blond hair.

I pout. "I'm wounded."

Somewhere in the room Beetee pipes up. "I'm in the math club."

Katniss narrows her eyes at me. "You know what I think?"

"Very little and not very often?" I counter.

"I think you're afraid." I place my tongue over my teeth and widen my eyes, motioning for her to continue. "You're a coward. You're afraid they'll reject you."

"Oh my god," I feign excitement, placing my hand on my cheek. "You understand me so completely." I jump off the banister next to her, startling her slightly. "Has it ever fuckin' occurred to you that the reason I'm not in all these activity clubs is because those of you that are, are fucking assholes?"

Katniss rolls her eyes at me. "How would you know? You don't know any of us."

"I'm in the Physics club," Beetee murmurs.

My eyes are burning into Katniss's gray ones, but I look over her head at Beetee. "What are you babbling about, Volts?"

"I was saying that I'm in the Math Club, the Physics Club and the Latin Club." Beetee shrugs his shoulders, spinning his pencil in his hands.

I cock my head to the side and plant both my palms on the desk next to Katniss. "Hey. Cherry." Katniss flares her nostrils at this nickname but looks at me. "Are  _you_ in the Physics Club?"

"No, that's an academic club," she dismisses. I chuckle at her answer and she sighs. "There are different types of clubs," she clarifies defensively.

"Oh?" I look back over at Beetee. "I'm sure the dork doesn't see it that way. I'm sure he thinks all the clubs are the same. Hey Volts." Beetee gazes up at me. "What do you do in your Physics Club?"

He adjusts his glasses. "Well, we um. We talk about Physics. Properties of Physics. New developments ...in, um, Physics."

I grin. "So it's a social thing. Demented and pathetic, but social."

"I-I guess you could say it's a social situation. We, um, we talk. There are other kids in the group. And at the end of the year we have a big party at the Hilton."

"Yeah?" I sit on the edge of Katniss's desk, folding my knee in front of me, and right in front of her. "You party it up? Get a little drunk? Hit on the other nerd chicks?" I jerk back and forth on the desk, thrusting. "Fuck 'em 'til they can't find the square root of 135, hm?"

Beetee shakes his head. "There's no square root of 135. Well, not a clean number. It's 11 and change." My disinterested and slightly annoyed gaze makes him stop. "No, we don't. We don't party like that. We get dressed up but we don't get drunk or high. My cousin Wiress, she once got high. She started eating weird foods, couldn't finish her sentences. Started to feel like she didn't belong anywhere."

"Kind of like you," Katniss interjects smugly, tilting her head to me. Just the very corner of my mouth upturns at her.

Finnick adjusts himself in his seat. "Look Coin's gonna come back any minute now. I've got a meet next Saturday and I'm not gonna miss it because of you guys. So just sit down and shut up."

"Oh my stars, wouldn't want to miss a big meet! Do you like to see the other guys' big meat, Finnick? Is that why you like swimming? The tight Speedos. The hairless chests. See their junk shrivel all tiny when it gets wet and cold?" I lick my lips and wiggle my eyebrows at him.

"What would you know about it, hm? You've never competed at anything in your life," he adds menacingly, gripping his fist on the desk.

I hum in thought. "Not true, if we're competing to see who gives the least amount of fucks about you in this room, I win." I slide off the edge of the desk and walk around until I'm in front of Finnick. "Because the thing is, prom king, I don't care that no one likes me. You do. She does."

"No I don't," Katniss scoffs.

I roll my eyes. "Oh please. Did you wake up and put on all the make-up for Coin? No, you did it because you wanted to look good. Why do you want to look good? To impress other people. Why do you want to impress other people? Because you want them to like you. Ergo, you care what people think."

"So do you," she protests, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I certainly don't."

"Yes you do," she insists. "You wouldn't be doing all this now if you didn't want us to think you were some kind of hard-ass. But instead, you just look like an asshole. So congratulations, everyone in the room hates you. You got what you wanted. Now you can sit down and shut the fuck up."

My jaw clenches and I move closer to Katniss in the most predatory way I can. I lean forward and grasp her necklace in my hand. It's a gold rope with a little medallion on the end. The symbol of our school, the mockingjay. "You think you know me, rich kid? You think you can sit here with your thousand dollar leather jacket and pure gold fucking necklace that your daddy bought you and tell me what I'm like? What I think?" I get closer to her face. "You wouldn't be able to live for a minute in my head."

I toss her necklace and it bounces against her shirt and rests backward. This door needs to be closed because now that I've really gotten under their skin, I wanna pry open these little fuckers. With a little finesse I manage to undo one of the pins that keeps the door ajar and it slams shut behind me.

"Johanna, that's school property. You shouldn't be messing with it." Beetee looks at me warily from his seat and I ignore him as I return to mine.

"Fix it," Finnick presses, looking between me and the shut door. "Johanna that's not funny, just fix it."

"Just fucking relax, preppy. God it's like you weren't born with just a silver spoon in your mouth. They also shoved it right up your ass."

The Assistant Principal storms in the room and the door closes loudly behind her. "Who closed the damn door?" she demands, standing in the front of the room with her hands on her hips. She narrows her eyes at Finnick. "Mr. Odair, who closed the door?"

"It just shut, ma'am," Finnick explains. "We were just sitting here."

"How would we know?" I support from the back of the room. "We're all sitting here like you told us to."

"Miss Everdeen?"

Is she gonna play? Let's see if she's got it in her. Let's see if she can remember who the enemy is. Katniss shrugs her shoulders. "We didn't get up, the door just closed." To my surprise, she does. Guess she's a little brighter than I thought.

"I think maybe there's a screw loose," I add sagely with a nod. "You should get that checked out."

Coin's heels make little noise against the carpet as she moves forward. "Miss Cresta?" Annie makes a weird squeak and plants her face on the paper she drew on, hiding herself.

"She doesn't speak, ma'am." Coin narrows her eyes at me.

"Give me the screw, Mason." I chuckle at the unintended double entendre and by the firm line Coin's mouth has moved into, I can tell she is not pleased. If there's one thing a woman in power does not appreciate, it's being undermined. Unfortunately for her, she makes it so fucking easy. Her holds her palm flat out toward me. "Give it to me, Mason."

I mean, come on. It's like she wants me to take it the wrong way. "Oh I'd love to Alma, but the administration frowns upon that kind of thing, don't they?" The room erupts in laughter and Assistant Principal Alma Coin is not happy with me. What else is new?

"The library is equipped with two fire exits," Beetee informs. "You can leave that door closed and we can still exit safely, should there be a fire."

Coin nods curtly at him and I flash Beetee an appreciative smile, which he returns with a small nod. "You're not fooling anybody, Mason. The next screw that falls out is gonna be you."

The older woman stamps toward the exit in an angry huff. "Fuck you," I mumble under my breath. Coin stops in her tracks and turns around, leveling her eyes at me.

"What was that?"

"I said fuck. You," I repeat, louder. Katniss and Finnick turn around to face me, their expressions of disbelief identical.

"That's another Saturday for you."

"Oh come on."

"That's another one. You wanna keep doing this, Mason?"

"Sure why not?" I counter hotly. "Let's add another one. Any more than that and I'll have to check my calendar. I'd check my phone but since we were instructed to leave them home, I am unfortunately without my date book."

"That's another! Let's just keep going. Instead of going to prison like you should, you'll be here."

"Great."

"That's another. I'm doing society a favor."

"With that haircut, I'd say you're doing everyone a disservice. Especially your cheekbones."

"That's another."

"You think I give a shit?" I look down and Katniss is mouthing for me to stop. What the hell does she care? It's enough, though, to make me stop. At least for now.

"That's another." I frown at her sourly. "You through?"

"How many is that?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.

"Seven," Beetee says, looking nervously between us. "Seven including the one from earlier when Johanna asked about the stick up... the stick..."

"Make it eight," Coin replies coolly.

"Hey, it was seven!" I protest.

She smiles sweetly at me. "It's eight now, Mason. Two months. I've got you for two whole months."

"I'm really looking forward to it," I reply glumly.

"You know Mason, you should be looking forward to it. Consider it an opportunity to think about why you want everyone to believe you don't care. You ought to spend a little more time actually doing something with your potential rather than wasting it being a smart-ass." She eyes the rest of the room. "Don't be a bad influence in these kids, okay? These are good kids. Not rebels without a fucking clue."

She whirls around and makes her grand exit. I grumble to myself, stewing in my own anger. Then I stand on my chair, then on to my desk. "Fuck you!" I scream, tilting my head up toward the ceiling. "Wouldn't want that, would we? Whole class in rebellion against this fascist fucking school? You know, you can't put everybody in here!" My chest pants in anger and frustration and I realize the other four pairs of eyes are on me. I leap down from the table and storm off toward the second level of the library.

* * *

There's a nice spot on the second floor of the library with some awful books that I take a seat in for some solitude. It feels like about four days go by until I hear some footsteps approaching my self-given cell. It's probably less than an hour. "Approach with caution."

Katniss appears at the end of the small aisle, leaning against the bookshelf and chuckling. "Or you'll what? Yell at me like you did to Coin?" she asks amusedly. She nods down at the book in my lap. "Are you up here reading?" I'm not sure if I'm more offended at the surprise in her voice, or the fact that she's partially correct in being both surprised and skeptical.

"No," I reply, tearing one of the pages out and letting it fall slowly onto the pile of other pages I've ripped out. Katniss frowns at my actions, shaking her head. "Lord Berrin doesn't really do it for me."

"Lord Byron," Katniss pronounces, rolling her eyes. She eyes the book. " _The Corsair_. You should actually read that. I think you'd find you have a lot in common with a Byronic hero."

"A  _moronic_  hero? Are you trying to insult me, Everdeen?" I toss the book on the carpet and stand up, leaning against the back wall. "I can't believe you even find time to read this junk between your spa appointments and, like, going to the mall with like, your friends." I toss my hair for good measure. She flips me the bird and I chuckle. "Such an obscene gesture from a pristine little girl."

"I'm not that pristine," Katniss denies, clenching her teeth.

"Oh no?" I laugh. "I'd be willing to bet a million dollars that you're a virgin, Everdeen." I begin crossing the aisle toward her, stepping over the ripped out pages of the book. "All those other girls you run with, they're the sluts. But not you."

"You don't know anything about me. Or my friends."

I tilt my head and continue toward her. "I know that you're a virgin. Have you ever even kissed a boy on the mouth?" She lowers her gaze. "A girl?" She shoots daggers at me. "Don't look at me like that. I don't know what goes on at your little preppy sleepovers." I step closer toward her. "Ever been felt up? Over your bra, under your blouse, kicking your shoes off, hoping to God that your parents don't walk in?"

"Shut up," she whispers. I plant my arm on her left side on the bookshelf so she can't escape the aisle and lean in toward her.

"Oh come on. You can tell me. You ever get hot and heavy? Chests heaving, some jock's fumbling hands desperately trying to undo the button on your jeans? Hot breath panting and moaning into your ear?" I place my forefinger on her sternum and drag it straight down her stomach over her shirt and between the opened zipper of her leather jacket. "Fingers pressing into your hot skin, scratching, clawing until finally the hand gets to that one spot where you can just  _feel_ the ache?"

Just as I'm about to reach the button of her jeans she swats my hand away angrily. She pushes me forward and into the other bookshelf, trembling with unspent anger. Oh I like feisty Katniss Everdeen. This I can work with. "You don't have to be such an asshole, you know." She shakes her head and walks away from me, clamoring down the stairs back to the first floor of the library.

Well I can't play with her if she's going to keep walking away from me. But I do like a chase.

* * *

Around noon Coin comes in to announce it's lunchtime. I raise my eyebrows at her. "We're gonna eat in here?"

"No, Mason, I thought I'd take you all to the River Palm for some steaks." I roll my eyes at her sarcasm. "You." She points at Finnick and flicks her finger. "And you! Hey! In the back! Wake up!" Annie looks up, puffing air out of her mouth to push hair away from her face. "You too. Come with me. We'll get sodas from the teacher's lounge. Let's go."

The three of them vacate the library, leaving me with Volts and Katniss. "Hey Volts," I call, irritated by the insane silence. "You a virgin, Volts?"

Beetee mumbles nervously, unable to look over at me. "I fail to see how that's relevant."

"It's not," I shrug. "Humor me. It's okay, Katniss is a virgin too."

Katniss loudly grumbles and turns around in her chair. "Give it up, Johanna."

" _You_ give it up. It's not a red diamond you got up your skirt." Beetee snickers and I look over at him. "Who are you to laugh? You can't even find some desperate dork to get your dick wet?"

"It's fine to be a virgin," Katniss responds, her gray eyes moving to Beetee. "It's fine to be whatever you want. And it's certainly nobody else's business." Beetee and Katniss share a smile and I roll my eyes high in my head and lean back in my chair, awaiting my precious ration of soda.

They return about twenty minutes later with all of our drinks and place them on the first desk. I move up between where Finnick and Katniss are sitting, spin the chair around, and plant myself between them. I lob a soda over my shoulder to Annie, who catches it and returns to making her lunch. Katniss pulls out a single tray from a brown paper bag. "What's that?"

She looks at me. "Sushi."

"Sushi," I repeat.

"Yes. Raw fish, seaweed and rice."

There's a long pause as I look toward Finnick, who shrugs. I'm sure he's eaten his fair share of fish. Seems cannibalistic, but it's probably true. "You're gonna eat raw fish but you won't put someone's tongue in your mouth?"

Katniss sighs exasperatedly. "Can I eat?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Give it a try," I say warily with a grin. She chuckles and turns back to her lunch, withdrawing a pair of chopsticks from within her bag. Next to her Finnick takes out a sandwich, a banana, a bag of chips, a bag of cookies, another sandwich, an apple, and a half a pint of milk. "Wow."

"Problem?" I shake my head. Finnick sighs and returns to his luxurious spread of a lunch.

"Do you want some?" Katniss offers, holding out a roll of sushi between her chopsticks.

I eye the roll for a moment, then return my gaze to hers. "No, that's not the kinda fish I'm accustomed to eating. I like my fish ...warm."

A grin spreads out on my features as I watch the slow realization of my entendre fill Katniss's eyes. She barely stifles a chuckle. "You're nauseating."

I saunter across the room to Volts and snatch his bag from over his head and sit in the seat next to him. From within his perfectly creased brown bag I take out a small thermos. "Milk?"

"Soup."

"Ah. A PB&J with the crusts cut off. Some apple juice. And a healthy snack. Wow. Well Volts, this is quite a nutritious lunch. All the food groups are well-represented." Katniss and Finnick giggle at me and I smirk. "Did your mom marry Mr. Rogers?"

"Mr. Latier," he corrects, with just the hint of a smile.

I get up from my seat and waltz to the center of the room. "For your viewing pleasure, lunch and a show. A short production called 'Life at the Latiers.'" I clear my throat and shake out my hands, cracking my neck. My voice drops. "' _Hey son_!'" I raise it comically high. "'Yes dad?' ' _How would you like to go fishing this weekend_?' 'Gee, Dad. That'd be swell. But aw nuts, I have homework.' ' _That's okay, Son. You can do it on the boat_!'" I cock my head to the side and look at Beetee. "Warm?"

"Not even close," he murmurs, turning back to his lunch. The smiles on the faces of everyone else seem to fade as well. I sit back down in my seat in the back of the room.

"What about you?" Finnick inquires. "What about your family?"

I scoff. "My family? Oh that's easy." I get back up and stretch out my limbs. Again I intone the deep, booming voice of my father. "' _You dumb, worthless, freeloading, piece of shit whore_.'" I flip my hair and mock my mother. "' _You forgot lazy and disrespectful_.' ' _SHUT UP WOMAN, go make me a goddamn turkey pot pie_.'" I swing my hand up, knocking my imaginary mother back into the wall. "'Oh? What about you, Dad?'" I ask in my voice. "' _You shut up_.' 'No, Dad, what about you?' ' _Shut up!_ ' 'NO, Dad. What. About. You?'" I scream, then imitate getting punched in the face. The rage of my pantomime courses through me and I place my hands on the back of my chair, gripping it. The plastic groans in protest as I dig my nails into it.

"Is that for real?" Beetee asks, sipping from his juice box and looking at me earnestly.

"You wanna come over sometime?"

Finnick shakes his head. "I don't believe it. I don't believe you." My eyes darken dangerously as I stare at him. "I think it just goes with your image."

"You don't believe me?" I ask.

"Did I stutter?"

I laugh harshly and walk slowly over toward him. I roll up the right sleeve of my flannel and reveal a long, jagged scar down my forearm. "You believe this?" I withdraw my switchblade from my back pocket and slam it through Finnick's banana, pinning it to the wooden table. "Looks about the right size for this switchblade, huh? See this is what happens in my house when you leave sawdust on the floor of the garage. Some asshole breaks into your room, takes your switchblade, and uses it on you. Did. I. Stutter?" I spit into his face. My eyes catch Katniss's for a fleeting moment before she looks down at her feet.

Snatching my switchblade I stalk off toward the back of the library. A pile of reference books sit atop a computer desk in front a set of stairs. I swipe all the books off with my hands, tossing them all on to the floor. My boot stomps against the top of the desk and I hoist myself up, climbing the staircase on the side. I slip my legs in between the stairs and sit there, resting my forehead against the edge of the step.

* * *

Katniss follows close on my heels as she and the rest of the group try to silently traverse the hallways. Coin stepped out and though I don't know where she went, surely it'll give me enough time to get to my locker. "What do you have in there?"

"I told you, brainless," I whisper exasperatedly. "Two things that will liven this place up."

"How do you know where Principal Coin went?" she asks urgently.

"I don't."

"Then how do you know when she'll be back?"

"I don't." I grin at her. "Being bad feels pretty good, huh?" She doesn't respond but by the cat who ate the canary grin she has, I'd say she's not exactly hating it. We finally reach my locker where I undo the padlock and remove a small radio from my locker and I hand it to Katniss. Then, inside a few paper bags, a small baggie of weed.

"Drugs," Beetee says blandly. "We came here for drugs."

I close my locker and peek down the hallway to begin our journey back. "Johanna that's not funny. Put it back." I ignore Finnick's warning as I lead the group back toward the library.

We round the next corner and I spot Coin leaning over the water fountain, gargling into it. "Shit," I whisper, pointing down the hallway. "Go, go!" Everyone begins scampering the other way as we try to take the back way around to get to the library. I can hear the clicking of Coin's heels and we all stutter to a stop and run in the opposite direction, attempting to avoid detection.

"The activities hall," Finnick says confidently.

"No, the cafeteria," I counter annoyedly. Finnick hesitates. "I've done my fair share of sneaking around."

"Yeah and look where it got you. We're done listening to you." Finnick doesn't wait for anyone to agree and takes off toward the activities hall. Beetee follows suit, then Katniss, begrudgingly. Annie looks at me and shrugs her shoulders, eyes widened in alarm. I roll my eyes and follow them down the abandoned hallway. We get to the activities hall and, surprise surprise, the gate is down, blocking us access of cutting through. "Shit."

"Great job, Flipper," I commend with an eye roll.

"Why didn't you just listen to Jo?" Katniss asks, nudging Finnick in the shoulder.  _Jo?_ I don't think I told her she could call me that. But it sounds kind of adorable and I don't correct her.

Coin's telltale high heels come clacking toward us and everyone stares at each other in panic. I grab Beetee and shove the bag of weed down the front of his pants. "Go cut back through the cafeteria. She can't catch us all." Everyone takes off toward the cafeteria except for Katniss, who looks anxiously at me. "What, Everdeen? Just go."

She shakes her head and poorly hides a small smile. "Byronic hero." With that she takes off toward the rest of them, and I enter the nearby gymnasium. From the rack set up near the wall I grab a basketball and begin loudly dribbling, attempting terrible shots from around the court.

The push door opens as I take another shot, actually getting it in the net for once. "Miss Mason!" Coin barks, her hands on her hips and her normally pale skin flush. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"Practicing. I'm hoping if I nail a couple of these free throws, they'll let me on the team." I run up and bounce the ball against the backboard, sinking it in the net once more. I dribble away from her, passing the ball through my legs. "Maybe catch me a scholarship."

"Mason, give me the ball." I pretend to shoot it at her quickly and she flinches. I smirk and put the ball on the ground, rolling it toward her. "Let's go." She leads me out the doorway and back to the library, manhandling me by the collar of my shirt.

"Get your fucking hands off me," I protest, knocking her arm away.

"Collect your things, Mason," she instructs coldly. She looks to everyone else, who are innocently sitting at their desks. "You won't be entertained by Miss Mason any longer. Since she cannot comply with the rules of detention, you will all be without her services for the day."

"Boo hoo," I pout, picking up my bag off the floor.

"Everything's a big joke to you, huh Mason?" Coin asks, crossing her arms over her chest. "That fire alarm you pulled yesterday? That was really funny to you, huh? False alarms are funny? What if your fami-" She cuts herself off and my eyes narrow. "What if your home was on fire? Your bedroom, all your heavy metal CDs and whatnot?"

I shrug. "If the house was on fire, I'd lock my parents in and hand out marshmallows to the neighbors."

The four of them snicker at my morbid joke and I smirk up at Coin. "Oh, you all think this is funny? Why don't you check back on Johanna in five years, hm? When she's a strung out junkie turning tricks on the corner to feed her addiction. Then we'll see how funny she is." My lips set into a firm line and Coin's thin lips turn upward. "What, Mason, you gonna cry? Let's go."

I pluck my sunglasses out of the pocket of my flannel and put them in front of Finnick. "Better hallway vision." Coin leads me out of the library and down the hallway toward an unmarked door. She shoves me inside the room and as she clicks on the overhead light with a small chain, I realize we're in the janitor's closet. "The fuck is this?"

"This is the last time, Mason, that I let you embarrass me in front of those kids." I sit down on top of an abandoned desk and look up at her. She removes her blazer and places it on the edge of some other piece of furniture they stored in here. "I am well paid, and I own a house, and I have a family. I am not going to jeopardize that over some little shit who thinks she's a smartass. But when this is over? After you graduate?"

She trails off and I quirk my eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?" I ask, unable to hide my disbelieving grin.

Coin nods her head slowly. "Yes, I am. I am the dawn of a new age here in Panem High School. The old principal would've eaten you and spit you up but I am here not to punish brats like you, but to rehabilitate them." She inspects her nails for a moment. "But some always fall through the cracks, don't they? And no one would notice if you did. Not your deadbeat father or your addict mother. Not your so-called friends at those awful dive bars you hang out in. Nobody would notice."

"Great speech," I mock, dropping my gaze to the ground.

She steps toward me again and I look up into her steely eyes. "You just better watch your mouth, Mason. I could have you on your knees in this closet faster than your whore mother and nobody would ever fucking believe you." She pauses, tilting her head to the side. "But you would like that, wouldn't you? Doesn't matter. If I were going to dip into the student population for some thrills, I certainly wouldn't drag the depths of the pond." With that she grabs her blazer, folds it over her arm, and storms out of the closet.

If she thinks I'm going to stay in this closet and brood, she's got another thing coming. Her words pluck at my heart, sure, but that just makes me more determined to fuck her day up just a little bit more. Nobody knows me, especially not some tight-ass mega-bitch with no sense of humor. With that in mind I shuffle my backpack back onto my shoulders and stand on the desk. With one sharp pull I tear off the grate on the air duct and hoist myself up into the duct.

I'm not done with those dweebs in detention. And I'm certainly not done with Miss Katniss Everdeen.


	2. Chapter 2

The duct is just large enough for me to wiggle through on my stomach in a commando crawl. There's no need to make ducts this large; they're just asking for someone to crawl through it. I hope I'm heading toward the library, otherwise I'll probably crash land on Coin's desk and then I'll really be up shit creek.

A small creaking noise emits from underneath my stomach and I pause. I've gone pretty far in this dusty place but probably not far enough to get to the library. I shrug and continue my journey like some sort of comical villain escaping from prison through a hole underground.

The metal duct gives way underneath me and I crash to the ground with an absurdly loud bang and crunch. To my elation, I'm in the library. The top floor, thankfully, because the forty foot drop to the bottom would've probably broken some bones. Coin definitely heard that noise, so I scamper to first floor and manage to sneak beneath Finnick and Katniss's desk before she reaches us.

"What was all that ruckus?" she demands. I can see her calves, her feet stood apart, pointed heel aiming toward me, but not the constipated look I'm sure she has on her face.

"What ruckus?" Finnick asks. I grin beneath the table and make myself more comfortable. Over my shoulder I see that I'm right in front of Katniss. I'm leaning in between her legs before I can even realize what I'm doing. She crosses her legs and knees me in the face, and my head hits the desk in my attempt to back away. I hear a bunch of banging as they try to cover for me. My head pain aside, it's an amazing view of what happens to be a set of spectacular calves. It's all I can do to not run my tongue along the defined muscle, but I control myself. I'm not some horn dog male.

"Can you describe the ruckus, ma'am?" Beetee asks, now seated directly behind Finnick and Katniss.

"Don't get smart with me, Mr. Latier. You all heard it, now what was it?"

"We didn't hear anything," Katniss explains calmly. Without much else better to do, my fingers slide around the back of her calf and begin massaging it. Her legs tense and she shifts in her chair, but she doesn't kick me away. My hands glide across her skin but I don't go over her knee, I just focus my attention on her calves.

"Fine. If I hear something else in here, you're all in big trouble. Big. Trouble." I roll my eyes from under the desk and wait until the door slams to come crawling out. Katniss swats me with her hands, a pretty blush invading her otherwise darkened cheeks.

"Asshole," she swears under her breath. I smirk and her and go toward Beetee, holding out my palm.

"My trees, Volts?" His forehead scrunches in confusion for a moment until it dawns on him that I'm asking for the one thing I told him to hold. For a genius he can be a real idiot. He removes the baggie from his pants and hands it to me. "Thank you." I go into the glass-enclosed research room in the back of the library, laying the weed out on the table.

Ripping a page from one of the nearby books, I use the paper to roll a joint on the big conference desk. Only a few moments later Katniss arrives in the room, and sits down in the seat next to me. I grin and light the joint, taking the first puff for myself. I hand it to her and surprisingly, she takes the hit like a champ. She doesn't even cough.

I must look as surprised or impressed as I feel because she laughs. "I told you I'm not that pristine."

"So you say."

"Where did Coin take you before?" she asks, taking another long pull from the joint before passing it back to me.

"The supply closet. Janitor's shit, whatever."

She looks almost horrified. "Can she do that? Lock you in a closet?"

I shrug. "Evidently. But she should know one thing about me." I pause and smirk. "I'm  _way_  too gay to get locked in a closet." Katniss laughs heartily, shaking her head at me. Beetee comes in the room next and props himself up on the table. Katniss hands him the joint and he inhales, choking just a little. "Not too bad for your first time, Volts."

He narrows his eyes and passes the joint back to me. "How do you know this is my first time?" he asks, suppressing another cough.

I smirk. "Call it a hunch." Soon after, Finnick and Annie join us as well and I begin rolling another joint. There's enough pot here for everyone and hey, I'm feeling generous. Plus, if I smoke them up, they'll be less stuck up and possibly, more fun to spend the next few hours with.

After about an hour, the room is filled nearly entirely with smoke. My radio is playing softly in the room, though I don't think Coin is paying attention anymore. With me gone she probably thinks these nerds are doing their essay. Instead, Finnick and Annie are engrossed in some intimate conversation, Beetee is rattling off all the elements on the periodic table, and Katniss is going through my backpack with my flannel on. I don't remember giving it to her, but I did start to do a striptease earlier and everyone made me stop. At some point she snagged it, but I don't mind.

There's not much in there. Some lighters, a notebook, my wallet, some receipts. She opens my wallet and inspects it, thumbing through my license and a few bills. She tosses it back inside my backpack and opens up my black notebook, furrowing her brow as she reads it. "What is this? Who are these girls?"

I raise my eyebrow at her. "What do you care?"

"I don't," she replies defensively. "I'm just asking a question. Are these your girlfriends?"

Sort of, I think. Inside that notebook is the name, picture, and short description of just about every girl I've ever slept with. There's not a lot of girls in there, maybe ten. "No, they're not my girlfriends. Well, some are, I guess. They think they are."

Katniss snorts in distaste and puts the notebook back inside my bag. "You don't believe in just ...one person?"

"Do you?"

She shrugs, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Yeah, I do. That's the way it should be."

I chuckle and shake my head. "I guess. But not for me."

"Why not?" she presses, waving off the offered joint from Beetee, who is now in the bottom two rows of the elements and really stretching my patience. Luckily the weed is really good.

"I don't know, I just don't." My voices raises a few octaves and everyone looks over at me. "What? Like you all believe in that fairy tale nonsense like Everdeen? One guy, one girl, or whatever combination you like, forever?"

Finnick nods his head. "Well, yeah."

"Because our parents are such shining examples of how well that works," I remark sarcastically. "I mean look at Latier. You said my imitation wasn't very good. Why not? Your parents got problems?"

Beetee stops reciting and sits on the back of a chair, his feet planted on the seat. "Not with each other, so much. But with me."

"Mine too," Finnick interjects, nodding his head. "You know why I'm in here? I taped Brian Johnson's buttcheeks together."

Beetee nearly falls off his chair in laughter. "You're the one that did that?"

Finnick nods. "Yeah. You know him?"

"Of course I know him," Beetee replies with a shake of his head. "He's a nerd."

"I didn't even want to," Finnick laments. "You know what's fucked up? I did it for my old man. I wanted him to think I was cool. He's always going off about the things he did in high school, how I should be enjoying myself. But then he puts all this fucking pressure on me to be good at everything. 'Can't miss a meet, Finnick. Gotta get that scholarship' 'You've gotta be the quarterback, what are you, queer? Only queers are punters.'" He tightens his hands into fists. "It's just so much pressure."

"I know about pressure," Beetee adds. Finnick shoots him a disbelieving stare and he widens his eyes. "I do! You know why I'm in here?"

"Cheat on a non-graded exam?" I offer.

"No. They found a gun in my locker." I quickly sober up and blink a few times.

"Why'd you have a gun?" Finnick asks cautiously.

"Because I got a D in fucking wood shop," Beetee growls, placing his head in his hands. "I can't have a D on my GPA. I'm supposed to be going to Cornell."

"You tried to kill yourself over a grade? The fuck is wrong with you?" I spit out, leaning forward on the table.

"I know!" he counters, angrily tearing off his glasses and rubbing his eyes on the heels of his palms. "You know the idiots who take shop?"

I roll my eyes. "I take shop." He eyes me knowingly and I sneer at him. "Fuck off, at least I can pass the shit."

"My pop is just always so on my case about it," Beetee explains softly, staring down at the table. "Can't get anything less than an A. 'What's this shit? A B plus? What are you, a retard?' I can't even relate to him anymore. He's just a machine and he wants me to be a machine."

"I think your dad, my dad, and Finnick's dad need to get together sometimes," I muse with a small smile. Finnick chuckles and nods his head.

"I'm not a machine," Beetee repeats. "I have other skills. You know what I really wanna do? Cook. I can make some great spaghetti. And a chicken florentine that'll knock your pants off."

"I can dance!" Finnick announces, abruptly getting up from the table. He turns up my radio and bursts out of the room, doing what looks like some pretty decent ballet. It's rather aggressive but still sort of beautiful.

Annie watches him closely, clapping excitedly. "I can ..um, I can.. I can play 'Heart and Soul' on the piano with my feet!"

"Don't need a demonstration," I plead with my hand up, "we believe you." I look over at Katniss and grin. "And what can you do, princess?"

Katniss shrugs, gray eyes darting down to the floor. "I don't have any talents."

"I find that hard to believe. Everyone has a talent. What's yours?" I prod.

"What's yours?"

"Show me yours and I'll show you mine." I wink and watch the small battle inside Katniss's eyes. Finally she relents.

"Fine. I'll be right back." She hurriedly gets out of her chair and carefully exits the library. I feel the small tug of worry in my chest that she might be caught, but I push it aside and continue to watch Finnick prance across the second level of the library. When Katniss returns she has a bow in her hand and a quiver over her back.

I stand up and exit the small reference room, cocking an eyebrow. "What the hell is that?"

"What does it look like,  _brainless_?" she mocks with a saucy smile. "It's a bow and arrow." She quickly scans around the room. With purposeful steps she goes back into the room and tears a page from my notebook. A few quick creases later she's created a paper airplane and she struts out of the room and hands it to me. "Throw that as accurately as you can, anywhere in the room. As far as you can throw it."

She goes to the front of the room and sets an arrow on her bow, waiting for me impatiently. Finnick ceases his dancing on the second floor to watch, leaning over the railing. I stand a few feet back and toss the paper airplane into the air, only a foot or so from the ceiling. It only glides for about five seconds before Katniss has tracked it and sent an arrow flying into the center, pinning it to the ceiling. From here, I can almost make out the descriptions of one of my many conquests on the paper, her arrow pierced through it.

"Holy shit," I remark, placing my hands on my hips. "How the hell did you learn that?"

She shrugs. "Practice."

"You're good."

"I'm the best," she corrects.

My eyes light up as I get an idea. I scamper toward Finnick's table and rummage in his bag, producing an apple. I move to the back of the room and take one bite out of the apple, then place it on top of my head. "Okay then Everdeen. Prove it."

"Johanna, I'm not doing that."

"You said you were the best," I protest, raising my eyebrow. "Are you full of shit?"

"No," she contends with a stomp of her foot. "I just don't want to shoot a fucking arrow at your face."

I shrug. "Why not? If you miss, hey, no one will miss me, right Finn?" I look up at Finnick, who appears genuinely worried, and somewhat guilty. I move my gaze back to Katniss. "But you won't miss. So do it."

"Don't do it," Beetee urges. "It's too dangerous."

"C'mon, princess. Don't be a pussy. Just shoot the fucking arrow. You want to see my talent, right?" I stand up straighter and glare impatiently. "Before I'm as old as fucking Coin, please."

"No," Katniss replies, shaking her head.

"Do it!"

"No!"

"Just fucking do it!" I yell over the sound of Beetee's protests, startling Annie who has taken residence on the table next to me. She hides her face in her jacket.

"No!"

"Do it!" I scream, leveling my gaze at her. She loads the bow quickly, squints one eye, and before I can even release a breath I feel the arrow pass right over my head, ruffling my hair and striking the apple straight in its core. I don't turn around, but I hear the fruit tumble to the ground.

Katniss shucks the bow on the ground and removes the quiver from her back, tossing it behind her desk. The arrows clatter against each other, the only noise in the entire room. My lips spread into a grin and I start a slow clap. "That was pretty fucking hot."

Finnick hoots in celebration from the second floor, athletically descending the stairs until he gets to the ground near Katniss and pats her on the back. She blushes under the attention and diverts her gaze away. Annie peeks up from inside her jacket and I wink at her.

"Okay," I announce, rubbing my hands together. "Now my talent is not as cool as Katniss's, but we can't all be fucking Hawkeye. So I will need two volunteers, but I am going to volunteer you. Katniss, stand here." I take her by the shoulders and move her into the center of the room, facing left. "And Annie, if you please. Take off your jackets. And stand by Katniss, facing her." The two girls stand in front of each other, only about five or six inches apart. I theatrically crack my knuckles. "Now for my trick."

I place one hand on each of their backs, just about in the center. In one swift movement I snap my fingers, then stand back proudly. Finnick crosses his arms. "What did you do?"

Annie's mouth drops open and Katniss holds herself around her torso. "She - she unhooked our bras." Annie practically runs away from us, and Finnick glares at me and goes after her. I shrug my shoulders and return my attention to Katniss. The shit-eating grin on my face must be pretty wide by now. "How did you even do that?"

I shrug. "Practice." Her glare stays with me and I roll my eyes. "Relax. I'll fix it. Just hold still." I go around to her back and put my hands up the back of her shirt, quickly hooking the eyelets back together. She trembles just slightly beneath my touch. "All better," I coo into her ear. "Though personally I enjoyed it before."

"You wish," Katniss teases, walking a few feet ahead and sitting on top of Beetee's desk. Annie and Finnick return a few minutes later, with the former being in much better spirits, and sit next to each other on a different desk. I grab one of the chairs and spin it around, plopping myself in the middle of the room.

Beetee walks in, his hands clasped behind his back. "You know, I was just thinking, what happens on Monday? When we all see each other again? Because I, um, I consider you guys friends now. Am I wrong?"

"No," Finnick answers slowly, and definitely dishonestly.

"So on Monday, what happens?" he ventures, raising his eyebrows.

"Do you mean, on Monday are we friends?" Katniss asks, fiddling with her mockingjay necklace. Beetee nods. "You want the truth?" She sucks in a breath. "Probably not."

"Are you talking about just Johanna or everyone?" Annie asks, looking over to Katniss.

"All of you," Katniss says softly.

Finnick rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Oh that's a real nice attitude, Katniss."

Katniss glares at him. "Oh shut up. Like if Beetee came up to you when you were with all your jock friends, you'd say hi. Then once he leaves you'd cut him up just like you do now. Is it better to be nice to his face and an asshole behind his back?"

"What about me?" Annie inquires quietly, looking to Katniss.

The brunette looks at the ground. I feel the heat of anger crawling up my skin as Katniss fumbles for an answer. "It would be the same thing," I answer for her. "She'd say hi to you and the second you were out of earshot, she'd be shitting all over you."

"Oh fuck you!" Katniss counters, glaring up at me. "Like you're about to invite her to one of your fucking house parties or whatever it is you do. And forget Annie, what about Beetee? You gonna get him high in the parking lot with your friends? Finnick too? If we walked down the hallway together you'd probably just tell your friends we were fucking just so you could stand being seen with me."

I stand up and kick the chair away, advancing toward her. "Don't you dare fucking talk about my friends. My friends wouldn't give a fuck what clique you were in. But you wouldn't even try to talk to them, would you? You think everyone's below you. Or at least, you hang with people who do and you don't have the balls to say anything to them! You don't have the courage to like what you wanna like!" Furious, I lean in and cock my head to the side. "Just stick to what you know. Shopping and sleepovers and driving your mom's new BMW."

"You don't know the first thing about me," Katniss shoots back, shoving me away from her.

"Oh that's a nice necklace you have there. Is that 24 karat gold, hm? How about that jacket? From the skin of a newborn calf? I'm sure daddy loves to spoil his little princess," I sneer condescendingly.

"My dad is dead!" Katniss screams, directly in my face. "So you don't stand there with your fucking hypocritical bullshit and try to act like you understand me. This is  _his_  necklace and yeah, he bought me this jacket. It was wrapped as a fucking Christmas present in his closet. Never got to give it to me, because he died in a gas explosion at his job on Christmas Eve when I was 11."

The room sobers up quickly. Any residual effect of the pot has been seared off by Katniss's confession. There is a strange, dead silence in the room that I want to alleviate, but I can't be trusted to speak because apparently I have a foot stuck in my mouth something fierce. "I wouldn't do that to you guys," Annie says softly. "I don't really have any friends, but if I did, I wouldn't do that."

"Me either," Beetee agrees, shrugging his shoulders. "Sorry about your dad, Katniss."

"Thanks," she says hoarsely, her eyes dipping down to look at her feet.

"I won't do that to you guys," Finnick says, looking around the room. "You have my word. I think that I would, normally, but not after today."

I roll my eyes. "Oh well isn't that just so gallant. It's too bad you're all a bunch of fucking liars. Except Everdeen, apparently. That's her virtue. One of two. Her honesty and her virginity."

Her hand swings up and slaps me clear across the face. My cheek burns hotly as I glare into her eyes, brimming with tears. "I hate you."

"No you don't," I counter. "But keep telling yourself that."

"I sorta hate you," Beetee says after a few beats. When I look over at him, he's grinning cheekily. "Can't say I blame Katniss."

A laugh bubbles up from Katniss's throat as she looks back at him, and she slaps her palm over her mouth. I glare at her, but it doesn't quite reach my eyes. "Is it because I call you Volts?"

Beetee laughs and shakes his head, fiddling with his glasses. "That's part of it. You're also just kind of a dick." I squint at him dangerously and he holds his hands up. "Look I get it, your folks suck. Just maybe, you know, tone down the asshole a little bit."

I scan around the room and everyone is staring at me, all in different stages of holding back laughter at my expense. My instinct is to be offended, as I normally would be if someone would presume to laugh at my parental situation. But as it's been made abundantly clear from today, I am not the only one that suffers. Maybe I suffer more than they do, maybe my lot is a little different, but I'll never know what it's like to have someone demean me for being only slightly less than above average, like Beetee. I'll never have some asshole breathe down my neck because I'm not the quarterback, like Finnick. My parents may scream at me, but at least they know I'm there, unlike Annie's. And I'll never know what it's like to have the eyes of the school on me, judging my every move. I'll never know what it's like to have to care that much, like Katniss.

"Duly noted, Beetee," I remark, nodding my head. "Duly noted. Now go put my tunes back on, man." Beetee grins and retrieves my radio, placing it on the table and turning the volume way up. I scale the large statue in the center of the room and drape myself over it, looking down on the other four. They each break apart and dance to whatever station Beetee tuned into, losing themselves in the music. Katniss stops dancing below the statue and holds her hands out. "What do you want, princess?" I yell over the music, a song I vaguely recognize from Shrek 2. Not that I'll admit it.

"Get down here and dance with me," she instructs, waving her hands.

"I don't dance."

She puts her hands on her hips and grins. "Don't be a pussy, Mason." I mirror her grin and slide down the statue to the ground. She takes both my hands and spins me around. The beat starts to get underneath my skin and I bob my head to the beat. My foot taps. Katniss watches me amusedly, taking her eye off me for a moment to watch Finnick and Annie letting loose together. Beetee is on top of one of the desks, really getting down. I let out a laugh and allow Katniss to take my hands and force me to dance with her.

Truth be told, it didn't take much convincing. Not that I'll admit that, either.

* * *

About thirty minutes before we're supposed to leave I crawl back into the duct, making my way back before Coin comes in to let me go. I replace the grate and sit back down on the broken desk, silently awaiting Coin's disappointed face to appear in the doorway. When the door opens, it doesn't reveal the slim figure of Coin, but rather the slightly shorter figure of Katniss.

"You lost?" I question, my tone soft. The corner of her mouth turns upward and I stand up, looking down at the ground. "Sorry about earlier."

She laughs. "Which part?" My eyes meet hers and she knows. She gives me a short nod. "I know. But I'm not here for your apology."

"No?" I tilt my head to the side and she slowly removes my flannel shirt and hands it back to me. I expel a short laugh. "Of course. Wouldn't want to be seen in this, right?" I pull it back on over my shirt, turning the sleeves up. Katniss stares into my eyes for a few moments, then steps closer to me. She grips each side of my flannel and pulls me into her, pressing her lips against mine softly.

She doesn't kiss like it's her first time. Her tongue is strong and forceful, sweeping into my mouth and claiming me with authority. Her hands hold me close to her and as she leaves my mouth in favor of kissing down my neck, I can't help but breathe out her name.

She finds my pulse under her lips and bites down, tugging on it with her teeth. The sharp pain resonates through my neck but shoots straight pleasure to all other parts of my body. "Katniss," I whimper, threading my fingers through her hair. I can feel her little mouth smile against my skin and she pulls away to look me in the eyes.

"I like that," she confesses, relinquishing her hold on my shirt to cup my face, rubbing her thumb along my jaw.

"What, giving hickeys?" I tease breathlessly.

She grins, and I think she'd be blushing if she wasn't already flushed from our kiss. "No. I like how you say my name when I kiss you." I smile back at her and lean in, robbing a kiss and robbing her breath. Her fist is still closed around the material of my shirt, which she tugs in arousal as I suck on the tip of her tongue. "It's my birthday, you know," she confesses after we break apart.

My eyes widen. "It's your birthday? Why didn't you say?"

She shrugs. "Would it have mattered? Would you have been nicer to me?" I look away embarrassedly. "Didn't think so."

"Well, here I am without anything to give you." I ponder this for a moment before getting an idea. Detaching myself from her grip, I go into my backpack and produce my notebook. She grimaces at it as I hand it toward her. "Here."

"Why would I want this?" she asks, taking it from me and raising her eyebrow.

"I have a feeling I won't be needing it anymore," I reply softly, looking at the ground. When I look back up at her, she's smiling widely. "Plus, even if I'm wrong, you can have it. Look up number four, and you can consider  _her_  your birthday present." She whacks me in the stomach with the notebook and slides her free hand around my neck, pulling me up for another kiss.

"I still kind of hate you," she whispers.

I hum against her lips and hold her head between my hands. " _He knew himself to be a villain, but he deemed the rest no better than he seemed_."

She lets out a small gasp and narrows her eyes. "What a liar! You have read Byron."

I roll my eyes at her. "Of course I have. We're in the same school, brainless, we had to read the same crap."

" _Lone, wild, and strange,_ " she recites, smirking at me. "Like you. So does that mean you hate me a little, too?"

"Yeah," I reply, "but not because I don't like you." She catches my eye and kisses me again, pulling me even closer and clasping her hands around my waist.

I don't know what Monday holds for us, but for now, I'll take this Saturday. She groans into the kiss and a short pant escapes my lips as we break apart for air. Yes, I'll definitely take this and leave my worries about Monday locked outside the closet.

* * *

There's a certain dread to Monday mornings that anyone in high school has felt at one time or another. Maybe you forgot your assignment, or you argued with your friend over the weekend, or you've got a big test coming up. Or maybe it's just that school sucks? Whatever it is, it fills your belly like a heavy stew and sits there until the drone of the morning announcements have passed and you get back into your routine.

My dread unfortunately is tied to a certain plaited brunette who I have yet to see all day. Our lockers are only a few classrooms apart - sorted by last names E to M - but every day she and her gaggle have convened at her locker, then walk right past mine to their first class. I didn't see her then, and even though the dismissal bell rung ten minutes ago, the hallway is choked with students still hanging around, none of them her. Not that I'm looking for her. I did see everyone else, though. Saw Finnick this morning, ate with Annie at lunch. I even spoke with the wood shop teacher and he agreed that if I helped, Beetee could do some extra credit projects to bring his grade up. The in-the-hallway, very public hug Beetee gave me was embarrassing, but I didn't mind as much.

Then, I hear them. The high-pitched giggling, the scuffing of high heels against the tile, and their loud voices ricocheting off the walls. People turn and stare as they often do when beautiful people walk by, but I stare into my locker, swinging the door back and forth. I have to will myself not to look, but I know she's nearby, tucked in this group of girls. Gathering my courage I turn and look just as they near me and my heart hammers inside my chest. We make eye contact, briefly, before she's dragged back into a conversation with one of her blonde friends and avoids my gaze.

She's going to forget Saturday ever happened. Ouch. The pain that squeezes my insides makes my eyes shut and burn beneath their lids. I'm not going to cry, not at school. Not where anyone can see me, I have a reputation to keep. And certainly not where she can see me. Fuck her, fuck this whole situation. Fuck her stupid beautiful eyes and warm lips. I hate her. I don't want to see her ever again.

"Typical." I slam my locker shut and turn around, suddenly face to face with the girl I just swore to never see again. Katniss drops her backpack to the ground and slides her hands over my collarbone and into the sleeves of my flannel shirt, then tugs the shirt right off of me. Her eyes never leave mine as she pulls my shirt onto herself, rolling the sleeves up near her elbows. She bends down and picks up her backpack, hefting it over her right shoulder. Her lips spread into a wide grin as she grabs the material of my shirt over my stomach, twists it into her fist and pulls me into her, crashing our mouths together.

For a moment, it feels like the ground just sort of gets sucked away. All I can sense is the feel of her lips on mine, the tacky sensation of her lipstick smearing on my mouth, her tiny tongue flicking out against my lower lip, the taste of her breath. The sounds slowly come into focus - the gasps of shock, the shouts of encouragement from the boys, and the murmuring of people too afraid of me (or her) to outright say something - and we pull apart.

She blinks a few times as we catch our breath and I can't help the goofy smile that's on my face. "What if I want my shirt back?"

Her teeth chew on her bottom lip for a moment and she shrugs. "Why? It looks so much better on me."

I lick my lips. "Actually it would look much better on your floor." Gray eyes flash wide with arousal and her teeth tug on her bottom lip again. I pick up my backpack from the ground and pull it over my shoulders. She takes my hand and entwines our fingers, squeezing them tightly. Her group has long since abandoned her, probably in a state of wide-eyed shock. She's better than them anyway.

We turn to walk toward the exit and one of Katniss's friends who I recognize by her blonde hair, but have no idea of her name, steps into our way and narrows her pale blue eyes at me. "Did you really kill someone?"

"Madge!" Katniss admonishes, blushing embarrassedly.

There's nothing particularly mean in the girl's tone and I shake my head. "Nope." That's been one of my favorite rumors about me and I'm sort of sad to let it go.

She eyes our entwined hands and looks back up at me. Her lips purse. "You gonna break her heart?"

Again I shake my head, but this time in bewilderment. "What are you, her mom?"

"No, I'm her best friend. And if you break her heart, I will find you. And I will," she hesitates, seemingly trying to think of something threatening. "I'll do something to you. I don't know what, but something. Unlike everyone else in this school - except Katniss, apparently - I am not afraid of you."

"This is unnecessary and embarrassing," Katniss notes, uncomfortably shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"I don't care, it has to be said." Madge looks to me. "Look, I don't care what your reputation is, all I care about is that you really like Katniss and you don't hurt her. Cool?"

"Ice cold, Maggie," I respond with a grin.

"Madge," she corrects, rolling her eyes. She looks at Katniss. "We are going to talk later, missy." In spite of her serious tone she smiles and takes Katniss's free hand and squeezes it. She breezes past us and Katniss meets my gaze. I give her an amused smirk and we continue to walk down the hallway.

The Princess and the Criminal. We're only slightly more scandalous than the Athlete and the Basket Case, who are making out next to Finnick's locker as we walk by. They detach long enough to see us, and after eyeing our joined hands, they both break out into smiles. Finnick wraps his arm around Annie's shoulder and the four of us make our way outside.

"You guys free Saturday?" Finnick asks, looking across Annie toward us. "Beetee invited us all to his new club."

" _Someone's_  got detention for the next two months," Katniss reminds everyone, nudging me with her hip. "Because someone has a hard time not wagging her tongue."

I scoff. "I didn't hear you complaining about my tongue on Saturday." Katniss blushes again and I grin. "But fortunately, Coin seems to have forgotten there's only three weeks left of school. And if she thinks I'm stepping foot in this place after graduation, she's fucking delusional."

Finnick grins and nods his head. "Oh, by the way." From his back pocket he withdraws a folded piece of notebook paper and hands it to me. "We went ahead and had Beetee write the essay for all of us."

In Beetee's deliberate, neat handwriting is the essay he wrote to Coin.

_Saturday, May 8th._

_Dear Asst. Principal Coin,_

_We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy for making us write this essay telling you who we think we are._

_What do you care?_

_You see us as you want to see us; in the most simplest terms, the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Correct? That's they way we saw each other at 7 o'clock this morning._

_We were brainwashed._

_But not anymore. We figured out that each of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. We figured out that we don't want to live in our boxes._

_Consider this the official application for a new school activity club: The Breakfast Club. We will meet every Saturday in the library to hang out and discuss what bothers us as teenagers: school, parents, sports, whatever. A place where other kids can feel free to break out of their boxes, too._

_I will consider our club approved since there are no fire exits in the library, and having the door closed was a violation of the local fire code._

_Sincerely,_

_Annie Cresta, Katniss Everdeen, Beetee Latier, Johanna Mason, and Finnick Odair.  
The Founding Members of the Breakfast Club_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merci beaucoup to Johannas-Motivational-Insults for her beta read and helpful suggestions. Now y'all have to gang up on her and force her to watch the film. ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Johannas-Motivational-Insults for her beta read, even though she's a heathen who hasn't seen the film. I'll excuse her, but not the rest of you.


End file.
